We’re a mere twenty days away from kickoff and the 2024 season looks to be one of the wildest years yet in college football.
First things first, let’s talk about the changes in the college football playoff.
This year, for the first time since its inception, the playoff will expand to twelve teams. Previously, the day after the Power Five Conference championship games, the top six teams would be announced, with #1 vs. #3 and #2 vs. #4 for the four-team playoff. The fifth and sixth teams would play in one of the New Year’s Six bowl games.
With the new model, the five highest-rated conference champions and the next seven highest-ranked teams will make up the twelve participating teams.
This is where it can be confusing so follow me closely- the four highest-ranked conference champions will be seeded 1-4 and receive a first-round bye. The fifth conference champion will be seeded where it was ranked or at #12 if it is outside the top twelve rankings.
Non-conference champions ranked in the top four will be seeded beginning at #5. Because of this, the seeding, 1-12 potentially could look different than the final rankings.
The eight teams seeded No. 5-12 will play in a first round with the higher seeds hosting the lower seeds either on campus or at other sites designated by the higher-seeded institution (No. 12 at No. 5, No. 11 at No. 6, No. 10 at No. 7 and No. 9 at No. 8.).
The selection committee will assign the four highest-ranked conference champions to Playoff Quarterfinals hosted by bowls. This will be done in consideration of historic bowl relationships, and then in consideration of rankings. For example, if the Sugar Bowl hosts a Playoff Quarterfinal and the SEC champion is ranked No. 1 and the Big 12 champion is ranked No. 3, the SEC champion would be assigned to the Sugar Bowl and the Big 12 champion would be assigned elsewhere.
With the four highest-ranked conference champions assigned to bowls, their four Playoff Quarterfinal opponents will be dictated by the bracket (i.e., No. 1 vs. No. 8/9 winner, No. 4 vs. No. 5/12 winner, No. 2 vs. 7/10 winner; No. 3 vs. 6/11 winner.)
The College Football Playoff bracket will follow the selection committee’s rankings, with no modifications made to avoid rematches between teams that may have played during the regular season or are from the same conference.
The bracket will remain in effect throughout the playoff (i.e., no re-seeding).
The highest seed will receive preferential placement for the Playoff Semifinal bowl assignment.
All 11 games will be under the CFP umbrella with the administrative policies determined by the CFP.
It’s a lot to take in but this is the new reality of college football. With this new model, group five teams finally have a shot to earn a playoff birth. On the flip side, if you’re # 5 when the first rankings come out, this means you must endure an extra four games to win the National Championship.
It’s going to be interesting to see how the season plays out with this new model.
The first game will be played on Friday, December 20, 2024.
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